Hundreds of angry longshoremen stormed through a grain shipping terminal in Longview, Wash., early Thursday and held security guards at bay while descending on a disputed train full of grain, cutting brake lines and dumping cargo. - Serious and sometimes violent direct action aimed at a new west coast shipping facility by a local union, supported by members from the Seattle area.
posted by Slap*Happy
on Sep 8, 2011 -
405 comments
French
general strike is going on. It's against a proposal by the French government to raise the normal retirement age for public pensions from 65 to 67 and early reduced pensions from age 60 to 62. All society is concerned.
Voilà the manifestations of high-school students,
so damn chic.
posted by -
on Oct 23, 2010 -
89 comments
On Saturday, Cuba issued an unprecedented public report on the status of an imprisoned dissident.
Guillermo Fariñas Hernández began his hunger strike in February, the day after the first Cuban hunger striker death in almost forty years. He is now
near death.
[more inside]
posted by hat
on Jul 6, 2010 -
21 comments
Norman Strike is blogging the 1984-85 U.K. miners' strike. From
his account of the "Battle of Orgreave" (June 18, 1984):
There was the coke works in the distance, squatting on the land and belching out smoke from Yorkshire coal. A black line of police spread across the yellow field in front, with horses to the rear and sides. . . . I began sprinting up the field, trying to avoid the slower lads. I made it to safety but was horrified at what I saw as I looked back down the field. Dogs were biting lads whilst others were being truncheoned by pigs and either led away or dragged away! It was a disgusting sight and one I never thought I’d see in this country. I’ll never forget it but worse was to follow.
[more inside]
posted by chinston
on Nov 5, 2009 -
9 comments
rethinking the lipstick index - a nice find: there's an old Greek play called
Lysistrata, in which the women of Greece go on a sex strike to stop the Peloponnesian War. Did it work? The play maybe was
just a play, but in the last decade there have been (successful?!) sex strikes in
Liberia,
Colombia,
Naples,
Sudan...
this site gets into some
research about ancient
women's ceremonies being a coordinated sex strike to get the men to hunt, and that they
painted their faces red to suggest menstrual blood... and now i can't help but think of lipstick, and blush, and then there's the
lipstick index, the idea that lipstick sales go up during hard times, (supposedly) because its the cheapest female self-indulgence product; but now i wonder... some primal impulse...
posted by jojo-dancer
on Mar 20, 2009 -
31 comments
US Airways Flight 1549 has
crashed into the Hudson. Fortunately, it appears that everyone has survived. The culprit appears to be a
bird strike from a flock of geese (as opposed to a single bird, which airplane engines are built to withstand).
[more inside]
posted by kdar
on Jan 15, 2009 -
169 comments
"Today there is no eggroll..." As posted at
jewschool, your best source for hip heeb hype,
Asian restaurants across [Israel]detante went on a one-day spring roll strike on Tuesday in protest over government plans to rid kitchens of foreign chefs, and said sushi and noodles would be the next items off the menu. [more inside]
posted by ericbop
on Feb 13, 2008 -
87 comments
The WGA strike has entered its third month. Since New Year's,
Worldwide Pants, the
Weinstein Co., and
United Artists have reached interim deals with the WGA, with rumors of more to come.
Microsoft announced new deals with Hollywood companies. And on Friday,
ABC Studios terminated deals with more than a dozen writers. Tonight,
CBS,
NBC, and
20th Century Fox have followed suit. Names of producers, writers, and shows affected are still being revealed as letters are received.
Force majeure.
[more inside]
posted by Tehanu
on Jan 14, 2008 -
169 comments
On December 7th, talks between the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (
AMPTP) broke down. From
AMPTP.com: "We are heartbroken to report that despite our best efforts, including sending them a muffin basket, making them a mix CD, and standing outside their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs, our talks with the WGA have broken down."
posted by Tehanu
on Dec 10, 2007 -
48 comments
The Howling Mob Society. Looking out over the burning Strip District from the safety of his office in Pittsburgh's Union Station, Thomas Alexander Scott must have been humbled. Only days before, as president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Scott famously suggested that impoverished and striking railroad workers be given “a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread.” Now, with the local Pittsburgh militia all but mutinied and the State Militia rapidly retreating, he must have wondered if his hard-line stance had backfired… [more inside]
posted by damnthesehumanhands
on Dec 3, 2007 -
9 comments
Striking Out by James Surowiecki. "As TV writers hit the picket lines, Surowiecki discusses the motivations and consequences of labor strikes. Historically, he argues, strikes have rarely ended up benefiting workers; the deals reached are usually similar to offers on the table before workers walk out. So why strike? For one thing, he writes, striking may clarify how serious your employer is about his stated position. And strikes are often about fairness, rather than economics -- people tend to reject deals they view as unfair, even when doing so leaves them worse off. A cogent analysis offering some interesting, timely tidbits of economic theory." [
via]
posted by shotgunbooty
on Nov 13, 2007 -
12 comments
John Murtari hunger strike protest. John Murtari has been on a hunger strike after being jailed without a jury trail. A PHD in aeronautics, Murtari lost his job and took a lower paying job at an ISP. Unable to pay the extremely high child support payment, he asked the courts to re-adjust his payment. The court denied him. The judge offered him probation or 6 months jail time. Murtari chose jail time with protest. Murtari stated
Even Terrorists get a trail by jury. He is finally on a feeding tube, forced down his nose, after loosing 28 lbs.
Update with protest photos and his
comments on the protest.
posted by IronWolve
on Aug 12, 2006 -
60 comments
Take a trip with me to 1913.
To
Calumet, Michigan, in the
Copper Country.
I'll take you to a place called
Italian Hall,
Where the
miners are having their big
Christmas Ball.
This time of year,
Woody Guthrie's haunting ballad "
1913 Massacre" brings to mind one of the most tragic incidents in American labor history. At the midpoint of the bitter and violent
miners' strike of 1913-14, miners and their families gathered for a Christmas party given by their union. An unidentified "
stupid person" gave the shout of "
fire", causing a panicked rush to escape. Unable to get out the door,
more than 70 people, mostly children, were smothered to death. A forthcoming documentary (main link) explores the legacy of the event, using Guthrie's song as its starting point.
posted by Miko
on Dec 21, 2005 -
19 comments
Almost exactly 40 years ago, on New Year's Day 1966, 35,000 transit workers walked off the job in New York City, defying the 1947 Condon-Wadlin Act which forbade strikes by government employees. Mike Quill, the TWU's militant founder and president, 'Called an "irresponsible demagogue" and "lawless hooligan" by the press,' 'would not be daunted by politicians' pronouncements and editorial page attacks.' When served with a court order, "Mike Quill tore up the injunction
in front of the television cameras."
The strike
led to the creation of the
Taylor Law, which is now being used in attempt to crush the TWU Local 100
strike of today.
posted by Edible Energy
on Dec 20, 2005 -
20 comments
Labor Unions in a free market.
Southern California is being gripped by crippling strikes by
transit workers and
grocery clerks -- both over health care -- that has stranded thousands of mostly poor commuters across Los Angeles and is expected to sap millions from the local economy.
As a person who can't drive due to a visual disability, I am personally effected by the MTA transit strike (that is rumored may last several months). State employees are not allowed to strike. Shouldn't that also be the case for essential services, such as public transit?
posted by lola
on Oct 14, 2003 -
80 comments
msnbc report all the major media are reporting a huge strike that may have killed hussein and perhaps his sons.
posted by muppetboy
on Apr 7, 2003 -
69 comments
